robottaway
Guest
Hello fellow reefers,
I'm sorta new here having bought a 14G Biocube from another member about a year ago. Not sure but think it was used for him so this tank has provided a lot of enjoyment. I have never owned a fish tank so been a real research project. Life happened prolonging me setting up the tank and starting cycle. That said having the time to read and run through bits in my head have been good for my understanding of the hobby.
I was able to create a really nice place for my tank in the garage, in an area that is setup so my two older girls can have a place to read and/or relax. I got my RODI unit in a working place, got myself producing clear water and did some mixing of salt to create filled tank. I used a small bottle of Tims One and Only which I think was a dud, followed by a bottle of Bio-Spira a couple weeks later. The second bottle did the job and within a day nitrites were falling fast. So far so good! I am now in a place in the cycle where 2ppm ammonia clears in under 24 hours and the nitrate clears around 24.
I fear I've gone completely nuts with gear. I spent quite a bit on a Kessil 160we tuna blue setup with spectral controller and removed the stock hood which was using CFLs and an LED strip. If anyone can point me to a good resource on tuning these lights I would greatly appreciate it. I will probably stick with zoas and LPS for the foreseeable future.
I built a little hang on side refugium to house some Marinepure media, a bit of chaeto and hopefully grow some pods that can give bio diversity and support. Really wish I had started this thread sooner so I could have documented some of that work. I also setup ATO so that I am not having to top off manually every day.
Also there was gear that I did not plan on buying... The return pump started screaming bloody murder after first few weeks :O Cleaning didn't remedy so I replaced it. Heater exploded when I took it out of water while on for about 10-15 seconds and then put back in. Whoops! Replaced with a Neo-Therm. Temp now stays dead on which seems like a huge improvement to the 3-4 degree swings I was seeing with the original heater.
Beyond that all the various additives, test kits and filtration and other exhaustible bits added up to a good chunk of change. This hobby has a bit of a startup cost
So now I'm eager to get some coral in. I ordered a few corals on Black Friday which should be here following Friday. I am not sure about when to add critters. Maybe I should add something to eat the algae as it is starting to come in? I installed the Chemipure Blue bag in the InTank media basket tonight assuming that it would help if I do add some live creatures. Would be open to any suggestions on fish that can go in this small size tank and are fun for kids.
Thanks for reading, here is an album of my setup:
https://imgur.com/a/xhzDzz3
I will update with more pics once I get something in the tank
I'm sorta new here having bought a 14G Biocube from another member about a year ago. Not sure but think it was used for him so this tank has provided a lot of enjoyment. I have never owned a fish tank so been a real research project. Life happened prolonging me setting up the tank and starting cycle. That said having the time to read and run through bits in my head have been good for my understanding of the hobby.
I was able to create a really nice place for my tank in the garage, in an area that is setup so my two older girls can have a place to read and/or relax. I got my RODI unit in a working place, got myself producing clear water and did some mixing of salt to create filled tank. I used a small bottle of Tims One and Only which I think was a dud, followed by a bottle of Bio-Spira a couple weeks later. The second bottle did the job and within a day nitrites were falling fast. So far so good! I am now in a place in the cycle where 2ppm ammonia clears in under 24 hours and the nitrate clears around 24.
I fear I've gone completely nuts with gear. I spent quite a bit on a Kessil 160we tuna blue setup with spectral controller and removed the stock hood which was using CFLs and an LED strip. If anyone can point me to a good resource on tuning these lights I would greatly appreciate it. I will probably stick with zoas and LPS for the foreseeable future.
I built a little hang on side refugium to house some Marinepure media, a bit of chaeto and hopefully grow some pods that can give bio diversity and support. Really wish I had started this thread sooner so I could have documented some of that work. I also setup ATO so that I am not having to top off manually every day.
Also there was gear that I did not plan on buying... The return pump started screaming bloody murder after first few weeks :O Cleaning didn't remedy so I replaced it. Heater exploded when I took it out of water while on for about 10-15 seconds and then put back in. Whoops! Replaced with a Neo-Therm. Temp now stays dead on which seems like a huge improvement to the 3-4 degree swings I was seeing with the original heater.
Beyond that all the various additives, test kits and filtration and other exhaustible bits added up to a good chunk of change. This hobby has a bit of a startup cost
So now I'm eager to get some coral in. I ordered a few corals on Black Friday which should be here following Friday. I am not sure about when to add critters. Maybe I should add something to eat the algae as it is starting to come in? I installed the Chemipure Blue bag in the InTank media basket tonight assuming that it would help if I do add some live creatures. Would be open to any suggestions on fish that can go in this small size tank and are fun for kids.
Thanks for reading, here is an album of my setup:
https://imgur.com/a/xhzDzz3
I will update with more pics once I get something in the tank